Republican Congressman Steve King is denouncing the Republican state senator who plans to challenge King’s bid for reelection in 2020.
State Senator Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Hull, has announced that in 2020, he will run for the U.S. House seat King currently holds. In a written statement, King said “establishment puppeteers” in the Republican Party had convinced Feenstra to challenge him. King also said Feenstra would offer voters nothing more than “warmed over” liberal talking points.
Feenstra, in his own campaign announcement, accused King of being ineffective and prone to political “sideshows” rather than service to Iowans. Both men say they’d be President Trump’s best ally. King said Trump has referred to him as the “world’s most conservative human being.”
King claims Feenstra had a conversation with Jeff King, the congressman’s son and campaign manager, on December 28 and that Feenstra — according to King — indicated he would never run against King.
The Iowa Republican Party’s chairman has referred to Feenstra as a “legitimate” challenger, but declared that the party will remain neutral in this primary contest.
The Iowa Democratic Party’s chairman has issued a statement calling King the “least effect” member of congress and criticizing Feenstra’s support — as a state senator — “of excessive spending on ineffective tax giveaways.” J.D. Scholten, the Democrat who came with about 11-thousand votes of defeating King last November, has not ruled out another run in the fourth district in 2020.